Cooper Cronk

Cooper Cronk always displayed ice cool nerves under pressure, as illustrated by his winning field goal in the 2012 State of Origin series decider. 

A Souths Acacia Junior Rugby League product, he attended Brisbane's St Laurence's College, where he played rugby union, and represented Queensland Schoolboys in 2000. He also was a representative junior baseballer.

Melbourne Storm placed him with Queensland Cup affiliate club, Norths Devils in 2001, and although he took time to find his feet, back in the 13-man code, he made his NRL debut with the Storm in 2004. When Matt Orford left the Storm for Manly in 2006, Cronk took over the halfback role, and went on become one of the game's great number sevens.

At Melbourne, he played alongside fellow Norths' graduates, Billy Slater, Cameron Smith and Greg Inglis, all of them Maroons legends. Cronk was halfback in the 2006 NRL grand final, when Melbourne lost 15-8 to the Brisbane Broncos. 

He’s a wonderful player and has done just as much for the game of rugby league as he has for his team’s chances every game that he plays.

Wally Lewis FOG #9

Melbourne won the 2007 and 2009 grand finals with Cronk at halfback, and Inglis and Brett Finch the respective five-eighths. Cronk capped off a stellar 2007 season with a Test debut against the Kiwis in Wellington.

In 2010, he made his long-awaited State of Origin debut for the Maroons, coming off the bench in all three matches. In fact, his first six appearances were as an interchange player, with Johnathan Thurston and Darren Lockyer the established halves. When Lockyer retired at the end of the 2011 season, Cronk started at halfback for Queensland, with Thurston moving to five-eighth.

It was in Game III, 2012 when Cronk iced a 45-metre field goal to claim a series victory for the Maroons. Cronk won his third NRL grand final with the Storm in 2012, winning the Clive Churchill Medal as player of the match in the 14-4 triumph over the Bulldogs. Cronk went on to play in a further four series wins with Queensland, before announcing his retirement from the representative arena, after the 2017 World Cup.

Cronk and fellow Queenslander, Cameron Munster were halves in Melbourne's 34-6 win over North Queensland in the 2017 NRL grand final.

Cronk moved to Sydney at the end of the 2017 season and signed a two-year deal with the Roosters, where his father, Rick, had been a promising junior.

Cooper was halfback in the club's back-to-back premiership wins in 2018 and 2019, against Melbourne and Canberra respectively. He carried a serious shoulder injury into the 2018 decider.

Cronk announced his retirement after the 2019 grand final, finishing his glittering career having played 372 NRL games, 232 of them with Melbourne.

He won the Dally M Medal in 2013 and 2016. Cronk played 38 Tests for Australia between 2007 and 2017, including World Cup wins in 2013 and 2017.

The former playmaker is an accomplished media performer, as well as being an independent director on the QRL Board.

He was appointed Chair of the QRL Pathways and Performance Committee and is passionate about giving back to the game.